The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1887-02-06

uu.u1zsznsx.sss>.srr.~zu
boat In to the steamboat stage ut Palanza, and
he stepped ashore. lie gave me the name of
his hotel, aud promised TO look him up the
next day and report. Then | sailed back 10
S'reso with q frcshcr lfcczc'pondcring on his
curious mania and on his last oracuar remark.
"1hat afternoon I presented myself at the
villa 1rnbcli At the usual hour. | had care.
fully wrapped mp the dagger in white paper,
tied II with pink ribbon, and sealed The packet.
! found Iucrczia In rocking chair on the
vcanda, looking supcrby beautiful. She wore
black summer dress, I remember Of some
gauzy, diaphanous material, closed at the
throat and at the wrists with knots OF red rih.
bon, and round the alobastcr pillar of her
throat were three narrow crclcis of hlood.rcd
coral
'Marchcsa,' | said, rs kissed her hand, Il
have here small Offering for You triilc, hut
! think unique.
"shc united the ribbon aud broke the seals.
'Solnc amlahlc surprise, do not douh,' she
said, rs SHE unrolcd the wrappings, hut he
fore she had finished doing SO the dagger
slipped, sheath aud all, and fell in her lap.
The Instant she sci eyes On II she raised her
hands In the air and sprang from her seat with
a sort OF gurgling, stilcd cry. The dagger
dropped ON the mating at her feet, and for a
moment she stared at II, her eyes starting from
their sockets, while her complexion turned TO
livid green. Then she staggered back few
sank in q huddlcd heap on the floor.
"I did not do II ] did not do II She
moancd 1T was shc-thc vipcr-thc iicnd /
was Innocent Innocent innoccntV Her voice
failed her, hut she continued to moan TO her
self In broken sentences, wriihing the while as
though In physical agony.
al called to her maid, who quickly appeared
Your mistress Is i'll said, and together we
raised her from the floor. This brought her In
some degree To herself and when attempted
u nj hp
house she shrank from me with q gesture of
horror, leaned her whole weight on the sturdy
Frcnchwoman's arm, tottcrcd into the salon,
and disappeared
~ was bcwiltlcrcd and bcnumbed. I picked
up the dagger, put II nmy pocket, hurried down
as fast ns ! could 10 the lake, jumped into
skin, and ordered two rowers TO take me ai
racing speed to Pallanza where went straight
10 Philips's hotel. He was gonc--to Aroma
and Milan, the porter believed, hut after that
nothing was known of his destination. From
I that day until this evening ] saw and heard
nothing of him. lie had left me no address,
and knew of none that would find him. From
something he said this evening, presume he
must have been IN the Home Office, hut he had
not mentioned the fact | rather fancied he
was an idle globc-trottcr, like myself, and
trusted To the fates. In this world Of ours, to
bring us together again. They have done so,
| you see though II has taken them eleven years.
"On returning to Strcsa | inquired at the
| Villa 'rrahclli, anl learned that the marchcsa
was i'll aud In bed Next morning | called
again, when one of the Italian servants handed
! me note, and informed me that the lnarchcsa
and her maid had departed early that morning,
/ no one knew whittier. The note was written
in English can repeat II word for word:
"'l imagined that Sir Marmndukc Middle
/ ton was u gentleman; Is II the part of gentle
man brutally To wrench and wiring the nerves
of a mhcli-tried womanY Whatever sins have
been laid at my door. | have never tortured u
being weaker than myself-a friend, who had
done me no wrong. u You have u spark of
clhivalry left You will make no attempt to
track me, and breathe no word of my secret
| l.. T.
''ion may imagine that when | read this |
| felt, as the Yankees say, almighty mean |
brcatlIcd no word of her secret for the very
good reason that knew no word of II to
bre:ahe; but, by way of II little penancc have
mortified my curiosity and carefully rcfraincd
from making any attempt 10 discover II. \
month or two later learned that the Villa Ira
belli, with all its furnishings and appuric-
nanccs, just as II stood, had been sold to i, Ger
man banker soon sold my own chalet, and
set of for three years ramble In China, Japan,
California, and So forth. Once, at n small sta
| glimpse of my enchantress's face. Her train
was Just moving of in the direction of San
| Francisco ms mine was starting for Omaha.
felt u momeniary impulse To jump ont and
take the next train In pursuit, hut | resisted
IL, and here | am.n
Mr.. Philips was as good as his word, and ar
rived at Mcuricc's shortly before midnight.
The more studied his solid, wellbuilt, com
monpacc features the less did believe IN his
clairvoyancc, ar whatever occult faculty Sii
Marmadukc credited him with was curious,
consequently, to hear their conversation.
Sir Marma,luke began by telling Mr.. Philips
the result of his experiment, just lie related II
to me. lie was describing the sudden collapse
of the Marchcsa Lucrc2a, when his hearci in.
tcrrnpted linn.
"By Jove!' he said, ~ gave her credit for
more nerve than tliatn'
"'Ihcn your black and white art can't quite
rank among the scicncesS" said Sir Marina
duke "You can't measure nerve force To Il
mllionth of n grainy ~
"'l'lc fact is" said Philip, smiling, 81 confess
WAS triiing with you to certain extent.
You used 10 he so obsiinatcly skcptical Of III,
power of my reading character that ! could
not resist the temptation to pay You ont a bit
handwriting is To n certain extent an index Ia
character. and by long and close study of II
developed an abnormally keen sense for minute
rescmblances and differences; in short, | mad,
myself an expert. AT the Home Oiicc my
powers quickly became known, aml | was
given frequent opportunities for exercising
them. Then ! began 10 lac called Ms a wiiles,
In courts of law, though the imperincni in
crcdulity with which the evidence of experts |,
generally regarded made me dcicsi those eases
Don't You remember a murder trial fourteen ol
fifteen years ago, IN which an Italian lady (sh,
had been an opera singer) was accused of de
llbtTaltlN stunning icT nllsDalli, all EllHllsn
man, AMI n man of great wealth. either from
jealousy or from mere cupidity, or perhaps
from both combined? She suspected linn ri
carrying ON an intrigue with another woman
and she forged letter, purporiing To he IN tlia
woman.s handwriting, giving Him an assirna
tiOn, at the dead of night, in some lonely coriic
of his own park. lie fell into the trap, came I,
the spot, and snt down On log To await th,
lady's arrival whereupon his wife stole up he
hind him and stabbed him In three places, kill
i'm al mn h,. fin I,.. MT ft..r n
That, ut any rate, was the theory of the prose
cution, hut the whole case turned on bringin,
home to her the forged letter. was one o
the experts called, and had not the sliglites
hesitation in identifying the writing Of III,
forged letter with the prisoners acknow lelgct
hand. The other so-caled experts, who wer,
mere clarlaians expressed less confidence, anf
the result was that the murdcrcss escaped
The moment you showed me that letter, Mid
dlctOn, ] recognized her handwriting. Afc
the trial had secured as curiosity the lttl,
stiletto with which the murder was committed
and in this | at once saw n chance of mystify
ing you II bit, and saving you from the LADY,
, | tolls. ] thought she would betray herself II
some way at sight Of the weapon, or, at an,
rate would take II as n hint that you either
knew, or were on the verge Of discovering, hc
secret; but from her behavior during the trial,
thought she would have brazened II out "a goOL
deal better than she did What you tell IN,
amounts To an absolute admission of guilt"
''ln the disguise Of an assertion Of innocence
I | could not refrain from putting in; "that dag
ger would have quite sufficiently painful as
sociatons for her, though she were AS innocen
as the day.
~ believe I've been an even greater brut.
than l Thought" said Sir Marmaduke; ''i
seems to me, Philips, that by your own show
ing you are the only witness against her"
at was her own hand that condemned her,
said the expert.
mo, that's Just what II didn't" said 81
Marmaduke "In this ease pot-hooks were no
hangers. But why did she fake bogus title
And why? And why On the whole
, Philips, bear you no grlilgc for having for
hidden the banns. "-Hc IrDonam.
sam Jones's Boston Sayings.
Boston Herald, Jan. 20.